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The Future of Cars According to Toyota
Paulrothrock writes "HowStuffWorks has an interesting story about Toyota's concept, um, car, the PM. In addition to seating only one person and having its hubless wheels driven by electric motors, it incorporates wireless networking so that drivers could surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work. And it reclines!"
(man driving a vintage Excursion hits bump in road) "Damn, what was that!"
(kid in the back seat) "Dad, I think that you just ran over the last two PMs in that row of 10 that just passed us.
It looks neat, but I get the impression that it's a coffin with a glass top held up at an angle.
What's the color ofThe grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
The last thing I need is for someone else in the car to tell me how to drive, and then demand that I "hand over" control.
Sheesh.
1337dR1V3r: i h8 this commute
70y074d00d: ya it sux0rz
1337dR1V3r: too long
1337dR1V3r: i got a big ppt prez to give to 54L3z in 30 min
70y074d00d: haha 54L3z l4m3rz sux
70y074d00d: 4cc0un71nG rulez
1337dR1V3r: omfg lag
70y074d00d: i no
70y074d00d: im slow too
70y074d00d: net sux 2day
70y074d00d: dr1v3r
70y074d00d: j00 there
70y074d00d: hello
*** 1337dR1V3r has left channel
70y074d00d: oh fuX0r
*** 70y074d00d has left channel
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Anyone remember that old joke that was floating around the Internet, what would happen if the car industry followed the growth of computers? I think that fear has just been realized. Thanks Toyota!
Hmmm.
Wireless networking and remote administration enabled? I think wardriving just gained a whole new meaning.
_____
Thank you.
I had one of these when I was a kid! Except control wasn't wireless, it was manual. Oh yeah...and we called it a "stroller."
that is insain, could you imagine traffic if all cars were like that?? just insain.
...becomes literal.
Alessandro Volta concept hybrid (rumored to be the basis for the next Supra)? I'll take mine in red, thanks :)
Would you trust to have someone else drive you to work? I sure wouldn't. Especially if they do that for a living.
If an accident were to happen; You wouldn't have been in any kind of control.
This wouldn't be a bad thing for all those drunks who try to drive home though.
That kind of technology has some major pros and cons.
Evolution or ID?
Steve Urkel
...so that drivers could surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work.
This takes the concept in everquest of mob/newb training to a whole 'nother level....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
The fundamental problem with the car-centric society of my homeland is: Nearly pessimum resource utilization at every step of the way.
First, I assume for the moment that we are not going to undo fifty years of urban planning overnight, and that private cars (or car-like transporters) are going to be a sine qua non for the time being.
Every day, a commuter needs to get himself and his briefcase from domicile to place-of-employ. Once a week, the entire family unit wants to travel together to Funfunparkland. Once a month you need to carry a SUV-full of groceries home from the Megalomart.
Having one least-common-denominator vehicle for all of these purposes (e.g. the Suburban Assault Vehicle), is a poor use of resources - to use some tortured computer analogy, it is as if you burn a DVD-R with three words on it, every time you want to use a post-it.
I think something like the Toyota PM would be more readily accepted by commuters if there were in place a more economically feasible way to acquire a larger vehicle for ad-hoc short-term missions. Something like, but not exactly like, the current rental market.
When I lived in Mountain View, CA - there was "Rent A Heap, Cheap" that had - well - cheap heaps of car ... They would rent you a mid-80s
station wagon for something like 25 bucks a day, unlimited mileage (or
nearly unlimited) including tax and insurance. Commuting via
motorcycle, I was easily able to save enough in operating-cost,
fixed cost, and depreciation to rent the wagon for those
once-in-a-while times when having something bigger than a motorcycle
was needed.
The saddest part with Toyota's gadget: It appears too much a toy, and they will have terrible image problems. The /. collective-consciousnless will call it 'gay'. (Not to mention the
risks involved with someone 0wn3ring your car and driving you off a
cliff!)
How does the Slashdot Effect happen given that no slashdotters ever RTFA?
Pardon me, but that's bullshit. No one I know would want a one-passenger car. I mean, yeah, that might be nice for the commute to and from work. But what about the weekends? How are you gonna go to a rave and take 10 people with you in that thing? I think caravans were a little 19th century.
And what about people with kids? Are they gonna come out with a "follower" model? And how exactly is one gonna haul groceries home?
This will be great for those guys who only go to the office, then home to surf the net till it's time to go to work again. But people with lives and friends are gonna keep driving multi-passenger vehicles. Especially in rural areas, where we don't have great things like cabs and subways.
Only the purest of souls seek enlightenment. Everyone else just wants power.
Or perhaps it's a Segway for people who are to lazy to stand up.
It's so geek, it's kind of sexy.
Does it turn into a cannoli?
"I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines." - Mr. Furious, Mystery Men
All they left out are the spine plugs.
> it incorporates wireless networking so that
> drivers could surrender control to another
> human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives
> them to work. And it reclines!
All that remains is to hook these units together and run them on fixed guideways. Let's see - need a new word for that - how about..... "Train". Yeah, that sounds funky and new!
sPh
Another job that can be done from home, taxi driver.
Never thought i'd see the day...
At least cabbies can stop showeri.... wait a minute..
power wheels make 'em go!
"I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
So how do I get my two toddlers to the grocery store?
What breakfast food does this most resemble: Hummer IV meets PM?
What about poor wireless reception or active radio jamming?
To start it, do you pull it back in your driveway until the spring catches?
[
Photoshop this Toyota PM. Difficulty: no baby strollers.
More music, fewer hits
- The drivers legs are used as the front bumper
- Virtually no cargo room
- Can't bring the kids along, since they won't be allowed to even sit in your PM until they get a drivers license
- I'm not about to let some other jerk drive for me. What if he cuts someone off and doesn't leave enough room for me?
- It's top heavy (although it can recline, alleviating this problem somewhat)
This is just another concept car that will never see the light of day, at least not in it's current form.I read the internet for the articles.
Since when did HowStuffWorks become a showcase for the corporate world? Shouldn't it be more about general concepts like hybrid cars as opposed to say, the Toyoda model specifically.
Blaze a trail to the New World
When people start driving cars that look like a giant cellphone.
all it needs is a bar behind it and you could have someone on rollerblades push you to work as if you were a 2 yearold.
Better yet, in New York City where those people who walk 10 to 15 dogs at a time could use the remote control to walk 10 to 15 kids at a time.
I make my face look like this and concerned words come out.
As if driving around the Washington Beltway wasn't risky enough in a Miata! This thing would be a cicada to a Ford Excursion flying through traffic.
ObJoke: What's the last thing that goes through a bug's mind when it hits a windshield?
It's ass!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know the real reason for that is to allow the Bush Thought Police to apprehend anybody they want at any time and drive them to secret concentration camps for liquidation. The fact that Americans are so brainwashed is Truly Scary.
All I want is sexbots and a virtual replacement for my shitty life. Is this too much to ask?
--- Ban humanity.
Sorry
In Soviet Russia, car drives you!
But I have nothing to complain about...howstuffworks is one of my favorite sites - and it's free.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
That box looks like a pancake waiting to happen. I wonder how much thought Toyota engineers put into safety w/ a baby buggy looking car like that.
...will get to stay in their country of origin?
This concept reminds me of a Slashdot story last year about putting radar on snowplow trucks. There was a post about how people tend to form convoys behind the snowplow in really bad conditions, and how if the snowplow driver runs of the road, a whole string of cars runs off the road right behind.
So, if I crash someone's car driving it remotely, am I liable? Does my insurance go up? Will hackers be the wireless car thieves of the future?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
Something else that can be outsourced to India
If you can read this sig - the bitch fell off.
And what do you do when people mistake you for a giant Aibo?
Have you PM mount their car and give the chassis a little dry-hump?
That said, the autopilot mode I like. Though it would be better if it could drive autonomously, rather than surrendering control to someone else (who's as likely to fall asleep at the wheel as I am). Course, the networking would have to be designed so that it was proof against some random attack. Giving up control of my car to someone else is one thing, having him TAKE control against my will is "right out".
And it changes colours to indicate what is going on inside! I wonder what colour it turns if you're making out?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
not only do cars carry people from place to place, a large percentage of us carry lots of stuff in our cars with us. I carry a roadside kit, my EMT bag, a sleeping bag, a few maps, my laptop and assorted computer accessories, and a bag with some toiletries and a spare change of clothes, basically wherever I go. (college kids, you never know where we'll end up sleeping on any given night ^^). This thing, while schnazzy, is apparently lacking anything remotely resembling "cargo space". Hell, where am i supposed to put my laptop, even?
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
They won't have to crack open your vehicle to indentify your corpse. They just conviently bury you along the side of the road.
I can't wait until some 13-year-old kid who thinks he's teh l33t h4>CAR.
In addition to seating only one person and having its hubless wheels driven by electric motors, it incorporates wireless networking so that drivers could surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work. And it reclines!
And what else seats only one person, reclines, and is driven by someone else? Why, you guessed it... it's the new joint venture between Toyota and Apple... the iStroller.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
I've made some dire predictions in my life, but I never went so low as to predict motor vehicles based on the Sony AIBO platform.
--- Ban humanity.
Old-School
how long do you think it take to learn to drive using the joysticks? i bet there are a ton of accidents at first.
steal this sig
The drivers legs are used as the front bumper
...
Driving is dangerous. You're only safer in a SUV if you hit a little car. Hit something stationary or another SUV and the energies involved are much higher. Nevermind stopping distance and handling. We'd all be safer if drivers were a little more aware of their mortality.
Virtually no cargo room
A large percentage of the time, I have virtually no cargo. Like everyone else.
Can't bring the kids along, since they won't be allowed to even sit in your PM until they get a drivers license
Everywhere I am aware of in North America, kids get free bus rides to school if it's too far to walk. Life's tough. Be glad your kids haven't been drafted to go fight over oil.
I'm not about to let some other jerk drive for me. What if he cuts someone off and doesn't leave enough room for me?
I'd love to pay someone to drive for me, like a taxi service or an automatic driving lane. Do you know how much productivity you could gain?
It's top heavy (although it can recline, alleviating this problem somewhat)
Seen a SUV recently?
..don't panic
What's with all the talk of joysticks in next-gen concept cars? A normal steering wheel gives great flexibility: great detail control, and you can still whip out a sharp turn if you need to.
Imagine a sneeze jerking you into the neighboring car.
Furthermore, how dumb is it to replace gas/brake pedals w/ another joystick!?! Now you NEED 2 hands to drive! How are you going to mess with the radio or eat your Big Mac or call your mom?
Judging from the horrific comments that everyone on /. has about this new product, and how right the /. community has been about products.. (ipod mini comes to mind). This will make Toyota billions!
Even calling this thing a concept car is pushing it. It's sort of cool, but the chances of anything that even remotely resembles this making it to market are pretty much nil. 1 person capacity? How is that even remotely efficient? Not too mention it doesn't take an engineer to take one look at that design and know that it wouldn't be safe at any realistic speed. Still, I guess it's cool that there are still companies that will invest $$ in stuff like this, even when there may be little to no payoff.
"The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
They must be growing some pretty good pot over in Japan. This thing would sell like ice on the north pole. Can't they see that people like to carry around all their stuff in a BIG auto-mobile..... and not get hurt when the run over smaller cars?
Motorcycles (and mopeds)
-Use Less fuel
-Take up less space on the roads and while parked
-Are less expensive than cars
-Are inexpensive to maintain
Unfortunatly they are also more dangerous than cars on US roads.
I'd like to see the greenines push a more reliable, inexpensive and realistic solution to the problem.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
It looks like an egg on wheels!
Phone rings:
It's Mindy, Mork want's his car back!
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
How does it hold up after being hit with a middle-aged woman talking a cell phone behind the wheel of a Chevy Yukon?
...to drive traffic (Get it? Car - traffic?!) to howstuffworks.com?
It must be a slooooow news day.
There doesn't seem to be room for a purple neon undercarriage.
Good thing it's a single seater!
The Lohner-Porsche Electric Car, unveiled in 1900 at the Paris Expo, was an electric car with a motors-in-the-hubs design. 1900!
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Perhaps they didn't reference their own How Web Servers Work.
Slashdotted: when demand exceeds supply
I'm not going to be satisfied until I get my flying car. I've given up on the personal jet pack, but I'm not backing down on the flying car.
NoLongerWorks /rimshot
What is the point of a one person transport? There isn't even room for an appreciable amount of luggage. If this is only to be used for personal commuting with few to none personal items, say to and from the office, then this person should be using the hyper efficient and comforatble mass transit system in place in the future. Oh that's right, there won't be one because companies are still designing products like this for the highest level of society where privilege and money rule and fuck-all to the environment and anyone who can't afford a person transport pod.
I'm not a tree-hugging hippie, but this is redeiculous. How about this for a concept car - one that actually gets more than 50 miles per gallon - that addresses today's problems in the real world where people need to haul stuff and other people around on a budget and where energy is limited.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
Someone pulling up behind one of these cars, hacks into the control system and steers the car off the cliff, road, or whatever....
I suppose this means there is a whole new meaning to the term ROAD RAGE....
Plenty of horrible applications of such a car... Ol granny driving in a 65 MPH zone, plodding along at 25.... Just hack into her control system and YOU can drive her car...
It's such a soft, gentle blue screen... I feel... sleepy!
"Honey, can you stop at the store and buy 2 80 pound bags of water softener salt, and a bag of dog food?" Uh-huh. How do you deal with that? It's not flexible. It's a specialized solution to transportation, not a generalized solution. The only way we'll all be happy is when the Ford Excursion gets 90 MPG. People won't give up their huge machines for fuel efficiency.
For fun, calculate how much DDT would be lethal for you!
...something to laugh at while they're stuck on the side of the road.
Okay, so I get 10 of my friends to surrender control to me as we're going down the New Jersey Turnpike... half of em fall asleep and I turn off my position beacon. Because I'm not an ass, I'll honk my horn to wake them up as they go barreling at 90mph into that oil tanker. Sorry judge, I was having a bad day..err..bad malfunction in my car.
for Post Mortem, cuz this thing will be dead on arrival
This thing is waaaaay too much concept and not enough car. It's dorkier than a moped and likely will/would cost much much more. Is Toyota even in touch with reality? The market is obviously moving toward MORE space and features, and they come out with this?!?!? Honda is coming out with a truck this year for Pete's sakes. Oh, well. So much for "Form Follows Function"
1 person capacity? How is that even remotely efficient?
90% of the cars on the road are one person vehicles anyway. From that standpoint, it's energy efficient. But people buy bigger cars for (ego stroking issues aside) the 1% of the time that they actually need to carry more passengers, go shopping, etc.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Toyota's concept, um, car, the PM. In addition to seating only one person...
Will the sport edition be called the PMS?
"Operating systems suck: you're better off using only the BIOS" --trainsaw.com
think of the shuttle controls in Earth: Final Conflict when they read about the Virtual Display/Controls
"To face death, that's nothing much. But to feel really stupid when you die, well, that would be insufferable."
For those looking for a working link, try here or here.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Geez...
US cities like San Francisco and New York (Manhattan) with high population densities and no parking this might work but does have the fruity image problem. This wold make crossing town and finding parking quite a bit easier for a daily commuter.
The 'high speed mode' is a bit baffling to me, i suspect that is just the concept car thing of "We can do it, thought it was cool so threw it in". Practically I doubt it could work in a mixed use expressway safely.
Underloved Movies and Pub Quiz: donotquestionme.org
i just marked you "friend" since you taught me a new word (pessimum). :) FYI local links on your site are prepended with 'http:', so none of them work.
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshows/articles/100 643/page013.html ...and not Slashdotted.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
Since HSW is grinding to a halt and no longer serving up images, you can see pics of the rolling coffin and more info from Toyota here.
Until the Terminatrix takes over your Toyota PM and makes you chase John Conner.
Guy in front drives off cliff...
Vote for new mod!!! Score:-2,Imbecile
Maybe not a 1 seater, but a 2 seater would be my optimum car. I'm sure there are others who would be fine driving around in a one seater most of the time.
Here we see an example of the idea that you can't automatically assume a product will fail simply because you don't know anyone who will use it.
What happened to the good old days of people driving because they *enjoyed* it? I have an '87 mustang convertible, and I love every minute I'm on the road. I *like* that I can take what's normally a 2 hour drive for most people, and cut it down to an hour and a half, not by speeding, but by properly driving corners.
It seems like all I hear anymore is people who hate their commute; for me, this is my time to relax (well, relax in the same way that CS is relaxing). There's nothing like driving through six-inches of snow, seeing a Grand Cherokee spun out on the side of the road, while you cruise by in your rear-wheel drive "sports car" (quotes to avoid technical debates as to Mustangs not actually being sports cars). The look on their face is priceless.
Mod me as a troll/flame, but auto racing can be every bit as much of a geek sport as bicycling, rock climbing, or even martial arts. Understanding that you need a few degrees more duration in your camshaft, or the reasons to go with a hypereutectic piston instead of a forged (or why the '86 5.0 HO motor is worse than the '85)... and that's just in building it. Then you get to learn how to finesse those ~2 tons of metal without killing yourself or others...
meh...
I'm all for automotive innovation, but this is bad. (I could only read part of the article due to an unresponsive server, but I think I got the basics..)
This 'PM' thing has all of the hazards of a motorcycle (no surrounding protection, low visibility from other vehicles), with none of the manuverability and power that can allow you to avoid an accident. There's already a name for drivers of this thing -- roadkill.
Then they want us to surrender control to another human? Maybe to someone I really trusted, on a sunny afternoon on the Western part of the Trans-Canadian Highway, when we haven't seen another car for an hour, but any other time? Just what we need -- another thing to encourage driver Inattention -- F'ing idiots!
I suppose if you had a convenience store in your suburban neighborhood, and didn't have to go out on a real road, it might work, but then a bicycle with a basket seems to have about as much cargo space... and you can't even take your kid down to the stand for an ice cream cone...
Maybe there's a point, but I don't see it.
So it appears another driver can take control of your car.
So.
Who's driving your car? One steering wheel per car. One set of pedals.
"I swear officer, i wasn't speeding. He was!"
All your car are belong to us?
Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
I guess I tend to lean more toward having a larger vehicle these days because I know someone who a year ago would be dead if they were not driving the large pickup truck they were in...when someone hit them head on at 65mph. Luckily they only nearly died, and can barely walk today.
As long as all of the large vehicles are still popular, a tiny thing like that simply would not sell.
Site's slashdotted all to hell.
/. editor's link to next time for sites that have loads of small pages). Printable version link: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/toyota-pm.htm/printa ble. This particular printable version is unique in that includes pictures, so it would still be slashdotted, but still, the point is sound. :)
This text yanked from the printable version of the article (which I suggest
---
How the Toyota PM Concept Car Works
by Kevin Bonsor
The Toyota Personal Mobility (PM) concept car
With the unveiling of the Personal Mobility (PM) concept car at the Toyota Motor Show in October 2003, Toyota's designers shared a new vision of personalized travel. Rather than simply rolling out a futuristic vehicle, Toyota unveiled a plan for changing how we travel in our individual vehicles.
Since the advent of the automobile, the car model someone chooses has reflected something about his or her personality. The average American driver spends one hour and 41 minutes in their cars each day, almost more than any other daily activity, according to research from the University of California at Berkeley. Toyota recognizes that fact and has designed the PM to create an entirely new vehicular modality in which people are not isolated by their vehicles, but rather are joined together in a mobile community.
In this article, we'll profile the PM's design, power, and unique features. We'll also take a peek at some other Toyota concept cars.
Room For One
The Toyota PM doesn't resemble the traditional definition of a car. It lacks side doors and accommodates just a single passenger. This single-passenger cockpit design more resembles a flightless helicopter on wheels than a car. Rather than stepping into a side door, passengers enter through a front hatch, which raises and lowers using hydraulic-lift bars. This front hatch also doubles as the vehicle's windshield.
This single-passenger cockpit design resembles a flightless helicopter.
The hydraulic door lifts and the vehicle's seat slides forward to ease the driver's entry or exit.
As the vehicle moves, the wheelbase lengthens to allow the cabin encapsulating the cockpit to recline. The driver shifts from an upright position to a tilted position.
When exiting or entering the vehicle, the hydraulic door lifts and the vehicle's seat slides forward to ease the driver's entry or exit. Once you're seated, or when the door shuts, the seat slides back into the body of the vehicle and is positioned for travel.
Other innovations in the PM design include hollow-center wheels and see-through shaftless construction. Each wheel is independent of the other three, which gives the vehicle unique steering ability.
PM Dimensions
Length: 5.74-8.69 feet (1.75-2.650 m), depending on position of cabin
Width: 4.81 feet (1.47 m)
Height: 3.99-6.09 feet (1.22-1.86 m)
Wheelbase: 3.61-6.56 feet (1.10-2.00 m), depending on position
Minimum turning radius: 3.94 feet (1.2 m), in entry/exit mode
In the next section, we'll look at the PM's handling ability.
Power and Handling
There is no hood on the PM that you can open to get a look at the engine. For one reason, there's no engine. A rear-mounted DC brushless electric motor powers the PM. Toyota hasn't disclosed details about the vehicle's top speed or battery life. The PM is keyless, and a push-button similar to that on a PC starts the motor.
The body arrangement of the PM is not static. The wheelbase can lengthen to allow the cabin to recline depending on the vehicle's mode of operation. The cabin is isolated from the wheels, allowing the PM to vary its posture according to speed or for easy entry/exit. There are three modes of operation, including:
Entry/Exit mode - At rest, the cabin is upright and its length is minimized. Because the wheels are independent of one another, the PM can
Now driving can be outsourced to India
I wonder how long that purdy bubble lasts when exposed to gravel/sand/debris from the road at speed. Seems like it would gets the sand blasted effect pretty quickly with no front end to deflect any of it.... It seems they havent figured out where to put the batteries yet so maybe they will figure out where the bumper goes then.
"The PM uses a virtual interface that appears to float in midair and uses infrared sensors to detect fingertip position."
Normally, my fingers are ice cold - would the sensor be able to detect such a small heat print in the middle of the air?
I don't think I can ever surrender my all-combustion engine for hybrids or alternative fuel cars. I like the smell of gasoline (cleans engine oil off pretty well too), the turn of the key, seeing the engine twist as I press the gas, hearing the engine RPM's rise as I press the gas. Sure, I'll probably get a futuristic car, but I'll always have my all-combustion-powered car in the garage to never lose my roots. It's not like the government is going to switch from gasoline to Hydrogen fuel next year so I have plenty of time.
These cars look suspiciously similar to the Toyota concept. IMO Toyota isn't doing anything new here, just repackaging an old style.
This one made me REALLY laugh.
I might not be paying attention, but I have never seen a New User Modifier cancel out a Karma-Bonus. Of course you have something like 50 post that are still in active discussions, but even still that seems kinda impressive. And I thought that I spend too much time on Slashdot!
the past.
this toyota thingie is just a 21st century Romi Isetta
What ? Me, worry ?
This reminds me of the F/OSS project FreeMobil which popped up about 4 months ago. They have been working on a Mini-ITX running Linux and 802.11b to let cars communicate with each other in various ways.
Natural Selection: self-destruction of the poor and lazy
Concept cars are not meant to be driven, or even put into production, they are intended to cause debate and contraversy. They are the bright shiny objects that draw the magpies of the press to the car shows because there is no such thing as bad publicity.
But of course, being Slashdot we have to be the only group of people to take this thing seriously.
How stuff works: The Slashdot Effect.
Sounds dangerous.
Hope it's secure.
Imagine what could happen if a hacker breaks in and decides to drive you to work. His way, via the scenic route through new mexico! How would patching work? Software in cars is generally not as flexible as that of the PC. Sometimes, it's even hardwired in. What do you do then? You think people are scared of using the internet for transactions? Just wait till this thing hits the market. You ain't seen nuthin yet.
But I'll probably buy one.
This signature has Super Cow Powers
"I'd love to pay someone to drive for me, like a taxi service or an automatic driving lane."
:)
:)
I'd love that, too. I have a company car. It would be fantastic if I had a company driver, too.
"Do you know how much productivity you could gain?"
Well for me it would be used to take an additional nap before and after work.
The idea is that you have a normal car *and* one of these. Much like the Smart cars we have in Europe. I have to say I don't see the advantage. You're still going to get stuck in traffic. I do think they should install short range radio in all cars as standard though so that you can shout at the twats in front of you.
t ml
Rather than a big car and a small car I have a car and a motorcycle. Use the bike to commute, swish through traffic and use the car for carrying stuff and longer ranges.
A Solectria Sunrise would be a much better vehicle to be aiming at:
http://www.evuk.co.uk/hotwires/rawstuff/art24.h
Yeah... 1997... It can actually do 375 miles on a single charge.
Deleted
How Stuff has been slashdotted. Here's another page to view it from.
WURD!!
Not only does it look like a Taelon Shuttle, the control system (from the article: The instrumentation panel displays vehicle data, location, and position based on information, attributes, and the paths of nearby PMs, and even entertainment guidance. On most vehicles, knobs or push buttons are used to input preferences. The PM uses a virtual interface that appears to float in midair and uses infrared sensors to detect fingertip position.) works like a Taelon Shuttle too.
As I remember from the show, the only way to make one of those safe enough to use was personal force field (virutal glass) technology, so that in a crash you could be wrapped in a glowing red bubble and ejected a LONG way away.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Actually, that might be kind of cool. It could combine the freedom to work on other things while travelling/commuting with the freedom to drive your own vehicle at the destination.
A "conductor" would drive a set route and cars could connect/disconnect as they wanted. I could see that being quite popular along the major interstates, especially if a two or four passenger car was added.
Exactly what I though when I looked at this sight! The gif of the guy with a wrench coming out of his skull was the most informative element on the page. It depicts what the fate of the drivers of this death machine.
Aside from emergencies or quasi-abnormal days (trip to the dentist, for instance..put them all together and it's not so abnormal anymore), a large number of kids have after-school activities and need transportation home after those. I don't know of many schools where the buses pick kids up at 5PM. Also, staying home all day every weekend and all summer is not very realistic. People with families will require something larger than this available to them daily.
There is a reason for everything. Sometimes that reason just sucks.
What happens when another car cuts between you and the lead PM at a cross road and you're asleep and on auto-pilot.
Although it's a neat concept, I think that it would have to be incorporated with other computer aided driving techniques to work in reality.
It would be neat to see the emergence of these things and new forms of taxi like businesses and the like.
I would think that these devices would also suffer in initial sales from the "I'll wait until someone else has one" syndrom. Although, if they were cheap enough, i guess you could buy one for each person in the family. Odd concept.
the sport version for women...yes, I mean the PM-S
I can see the ad campaign: Is it road rage...or just PM-S?
Did you know you can be apathetic to apathy? Not that I give a shit...
...an Anonymous Coward.
Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
. . . a four wheel Segway.
Some key benefits to the idea of letting one person drive a gaggle of cars are
- You can design the cars to densely tailgate each other to take advantage of slipstreaming. That buys you significant gains in gas mileage since most of a car's power at highway speeds is spent just moving air out of the way.
- Cars can move at much higher speeds since human reaction times are removed from the chain. Right now, if you're in a line 100 cars long, it takes at least 50 seconds from the time the first car in line moves before the 100th car gets moving. With this technology, when the first car moves, all the cars move. When the first car stops, all the cars stop.
- It allows for self-assembling trains. Fixed rail is well, fixed. Cars go wherever anyone wants to go when they want to go. By allowing one person to drive, and everyone else to follow, you'll have long strings of cars (just like you have train cars) that can peel off when they wish and can join when they wish. You get most of the efficiency of trains without having to coerce people into living in certain areas or travel to certain destinations.
This incarnation of Toyota's may not make it to market but, with tort reform, some variation of this tech is going to happen. The advantages are just too great for it not to happen.A lot of people's observations seem to be based on the assumption that the PM was designed for the American car driver in mind. Just based on its function and design, this seems to be a vehicle designed for high density areas (i.e. Asian metropolitans) where space is a premium and large vehicles like SUVs are non-existent to smash up the PM. You take any idea out of its context and it will sound foolish.
Amazing. You got modded up by presenting an argument that didn't actually address a single point he made.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
I can see it now, driving down the road, passing the nearby McD's when 4 popups appear in fron of you in your "virtual HUD"... causeing you to rear-end the person in front of you..
Driver: "Really Officer, The popup blocked my view!"
Officer: "Well, guess you should download the Google DashBar then! Here's you ticket."
I can't stand driving video games because I have a lot of trouble driving with a joystick. I'm not a big video game player in the first place, and that may be part of my problem.
However, I am an excellent driver in real life, and very comfortable behind the wheel.
I consider the wheel to be the ultimate user interface for a car, so even if I do buy a drive-by-wire car some day, I want a steering wheel to control it.
Am I just being old-fashioned? Does anyone have any first hand experience or links to serious examples of successful driving of cars by joystick?
MM
--
By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
How many pre-orders has toyota gotten for the four wheeled suppository?
How many times have you been following someone somewhere and they instinctually drive through a yellow light and leave you at the light? If your 'pod' is blindly following someone by remote control how is it to know that the person driving the first 'pod' isnt paying attention to his trailing 'pod' and you get stuck running a red light and possibly flattened by a truck or something?
....move along....nothing to see here....
You misspelled monorail.
... someone tries to make a Beowulf cluster out of these things. ... and how many parking garages would it take?
That said, an enclosed scooter like the BMW C1 makes much more sense than the four-wheeled PM because you can operate it in a narrow vehicle lane and park in a motorcycle space. With anti-lock brakes, roll cage, and harness, and a superfluous helmet required in some jurisdictions, its no rolling coffin. And you can buy it now.
Show me the teen that wants one of these and I'll show you a hopeless virgin. If you can't do it in the car, it just ain't an American car.
Can't wait to share the road with semis and dump trucks in one of those pods.
Proverbs 21:19
Maybe people will start driving a bit more carefully if this is the case. ABS, seatbelts, airbags - I bet the one thing that'd improve road safety more than any of those is a 6-inch spike sticking out the steering wheel towards the driver!
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
So you would prefer crammed in high density populations centers? Yuk. I grew up in smalltown nowhere and can't stand high population density of metropolitan areas.
Any that I have visited all suffer from massive traffic and poeple congestion, poor air quality and high crime. A lot more wretched than subburbia IMO.
Or does that pic somehow resemble a baby carriage just a bit?
All that's missing is the handle on the back and a pacifier.
Oooo....The Toyota Pacifier (TM)
...Rob
The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
Thank you, no. What if the other driver has had a really bad day, and wants to take a few other people with him over the cliff?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Hopefully this won't get the hype the Segway got.
Motorcycles.
All the clothing is completely waterproof these days, thank you Gore.
Backpacks, tank bags, tail packs, panniers, top boxes. You might be surprised just how much crap you can lug around on a motorbike.
They occasionally run a "Commuter Race", a man vs car vs tube vs bicycle vs motorcyle race between 2 points in London. The motorcycle wins every time and it's not just marginally quicker, it's 50% -> 100+% faster than all of the rest.
Deleted
Where do you put your big-gulp ?
Lurking in the desert
I don't see this as a problem. Especially for your kids....
I mean, you just get one for each kid, have all sub-cars controlled by the main (your) car, and away you go!
Bathroom break? Tell the car to stop at the next rest area and catch up to the convoy when finished!
hehehehe
Accidently disconnect WiFi link to lose mother-in-law, etc.
B-)
A friend will come and bail you out of jail, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn that was fun!"
My good friend, you totally fail it.
I don't remember the details, but GM had a similar idea, minus the automatic control, in the 80s. It was a tandem two-seater, which makes a lot of sense as it allows for a couple with two children to postpone buying a SW.
Leandro Guimarães Faria Corcete DUTRA
DA, DBA, SysAdmin, Data Modeller
GNU Project, Debian GNU/Lin
The day a car can drive itself is the day the car can tell whether there is weed inside
It's like a high-tech Power Wheel[fisher-price.com]
Electric motors = continuously variable transmission = continuous maximum torque at any speed.
Drive by wire + separately-powered wheels = computer-controlled stability-control on acceleration, braking, turning, etc.
Maximum control under all conditions, incredible ridiculous electric acceleration, and handling that's as impressive as hell.
The only advantage gasoline engines have is a fuel with much higher energy density (range) than batteries provide-- if you want pure performance, electric will own internal combustion every time.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
Wannabe clowns are having a field day today!
So, what color does it turn when you're having sex in it? Oh, yeah... Only one passenger, but that's about right for the Slashdot crowd. What color does it turn when you wank your way to work?
>>Virtually no cargo room
... oh, that's
>A large percentage of the time, I have virtually
>no cargo. Like everyone else.
You make some odd assumptions. Groceries? Lunch?
Briefcase? Thermos of coffee? Stack of work
stuff? Heavy coats you don't want to wear while
driving?
>>Can't bring the kids along, since they won't be
>>allowed to even sit in your PM until they get a
>>drivers license
>Everywhere I am aware of in North America, kids
>get free bus rides to school if it's too far to
>walk. Life's tough. Be glad your kids haven't
>been drafted to go fight over oil.
You obviously aren't a parent. Who said anything
about school? How about stores? Parks? Daycare?
Friends houses? Family gatherings? Doctor?
Classes, activities, etc., etc.
right, there's magically going to be a clean,
safe, bus for all these things. And every parent
wants to have their children in a big crowd of
random people for extended periods of time.
It doesn't fly.
When I buy a car, I look for several things in it. First of all, it must be fun to drive. I do not want to have something that I do not like driving; that kills the point of spending money on it. Secondly, it has to be somewhat safe. Finally, I should be able to repair it or find somebody who can do it without too much trouble.
Unfortunately, this car does not have a single thing that appeals to me. Since I take public trasportation to work, the last thing I want to get is a boring car that takes up space and does nothing special. If I get a job in a place that I can't reach without driving a car, I am going to get something simple, reliable and comfortable vehicle. If I continue to work downtown, I am going to get a sports car that can be used for joy rides.
Other cars will be driving with different relative speeds around you. Controller car changes lanes left. At the correct time, your car also changes lanes left. However, asshole speeder behind you has already filled the gap. And now you're dead.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Sorry.
Bit of a time lag, but, hey, all that profit will go to make the bottom line better, so we will all benefit. And sovereign immunity will take care of the lawsuit. So, it is all good, right!
emt 377 emt 4
Concept cars are like college programming projects
Hrmm, as far as I know, many excellent things have come out of college programming projects.
Diablo comes to mind very quickly, and I think the public and the creators were very happy with the end result.
drivers could surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work.
That technology is here today! I was able to read a magazine as someone else drove me and twenty-or-so other people to work this morning. It's called the city bus!
I wanted to get a hybrid for my mom. After testing Honda Insight and Toyota Prius I have come to conclusion that I will never sit in a hybrid again.
First of all, they're fucking slow. I do not know about you, but sometimes I like to speed up and go uphil at more than 10 miles per hour. I am sorry to disappoint you, but Prius does handle like shit. Well, it depends on what you call handling. If you think that your car handles well because you do not roll over when taking a corner at 20mph, here is a news flash for you: most cars do not (some SUVs excluded). In fact, there are only few cars that can handle and stop on a dime. Honda S2000 handles, Lancer Evolution handles, Porsches handle. There are more cars, but you get the point.
Then there are repairs. Hybrids are rather new, therefore not every mechanic knows how to repair them. Moreover, some parts are in shortage. You can get a part for a Civic anywhere; hybrids are not the same. One of my friends had an issue with his Prius and, guess what, the dealership told him to wait while they were ordering a part from Japan. I do not mind waiting if I have time and a second car to drive.... What about you?
Instead of setting for a hybrid, I steered my mom towards Nissan Sentra. It has good milieage, parts are everywhere and the car does look like a car.
I don't see where they are going to put the V8.
I liked Manhattan the couple of times I visited it. Traffic wasn't a huge problem because no one drives there; you take the subway or a taxi. There are loads of people on many sidewalks, yes, but you get used to it. The air quality isn't any worse than the suburban sprawl I currently live in (Phoenix). And it isn't known for terribly high crime either, at least in Manhattan itself.
The main problem with the place, however, is that the cost of living is astronomical. Every time some anti-sprawl person talks about how we need to live in a high-density city with public transit, I immediately think of Manhattan and Boston, and remember how there's no way I could afford to live in one of those places. There's a reason sprawl occurs: land is much cheaper in the suburbs, and people can afford to own their homes instead of just being renters.
The living space in high-density cities is also a problem. Unless you're a millionnaire, there's no way you could afford 2000+ s.f. of living space in a dense city. But in the suburbs anyone can afford a decent-sized house. Personally, I like having a garage with power tools, an extra room for my computer and electronics projects, and a back yard with a couple of trees. Dense urban living is only realistic for people who are single and don't spend much time at home.
And before you tell me it can carry more htan one person, it can't. And plenty of people use them to commute
I don't see why everybody wants to get rid of the steering wheel/pedals combination.
The current setup is great. You can let go with one hand to brush something out of your eye, or change the radio, or wave the other driver ahead, etc.
For the most part, you can drive a modern car with one foot and one hand. If you take your foot off the gas, it slows down; but how often do you need to do something with your foot?
As this contraption is described, brakes and acceleration are controlled with a second joystick, necessitating both hands at all times. What happens if you take your hand off the accelerator? Does it then slow down every time you want to open a window, or tune the radio, or light a cigarette, or whatever?
Why change an interface that works wonderfully for something that just looks cool but is less functional?
Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
Personally, I don't beleive the 1-seater car is so far-fetched. It won't come from want but from necessity.
Our current highway infrastructure is aging quite radidly and in many areas, is failing because of current capacity exceeding design capacity. I don't have to tell that to anyone that drives in a major metropolitan area.
If you live in one of these areas, look around on your drive home. What do you see? Developed land. Where is it? Abutted right next to the highway. Given this, to meet future capacity projections, DOT's would need to:
a) Build out. Of course, this means buying up acres of very expensive land and end up in courts for years. Not feasible in urban areas.
b) Build up. Begin building teired highways. Again, expensive. Structures don't come cheap.
c) Build down. Just look at Boston's Big Dig to see how economically feasible that was.
d) Shift traffic to mass transit systems. It would require a major shift in thinking, at least for the American driver, as trains and buses are viewed as a second rate method of getting around. Their beloved auto gives them the most (percieved) freedom.
A single passenger car would allow for a more narrow travel lane. Instantly, existing highways gain increased capacity at the cost of restriping the road. Paint is sinfully cheap compared the other alternatives. Will we still have a need for multi-passenger vehicles and trucks and the corresponding lanes for them? Of course, but they may end up paying a tax or some other penalty for their luxuriously-spaced vehicle. Under such a scenario, it may be more cost effictive to have two or three single passenger vehicles than one multi-passenger vehicle.
Besides, how many people drive more than themselves in their 4 to 8 passenger vehicle as it stand now? Few. Outside of the U.S. space comes at an even higher premium. I don't think Toyota is that far off at all.
... and I predict as rosy a future for it.
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
That would be Klaatu. Do you think it is merely coincidence that a google search for Gort and Toyota yields almost 500 results? It's all the logical conclusion man. Honda develops all these small friendly robots that dance and fetch your newspaper. Toyota's only feasible response is to build GIANT KILLER GUARDIAN ROBOTS to maintain market dominance.
IIRC, the Chrysler Prowler did as well.
EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
AC's need not reply
Well I like the concept and all, but what is the big fuss about a small urban car ?
The Smart has been on the road for some years now, and is about the same size but seats 2, and has a trunk big enough to put a box of ceral.
Smart dimensions (length, width, height) : 2.5/1.5/1.55 [meters]
Toyota Egg (length, width, height) : 2.65/1.47/1.85 [meters]
Okay so it isn't electric and doesn't have funky drive-by-someone (tm) technolofy, but it's already commercialized and viable.
Murphy(c)
Anybody else think that thing looks like an i-Mac on wheels?
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
can you say commuter trains :) Imagine if you brakes were linked to the guy in fornt of you, no more guessing when he was gonna slow, the whole 'train' would know in milliseconds, merging into a train would be a simple matter of every car giving up say 3 or 4 inches quietlyand efficiently. I can also see a hacker just having a field day issing slowdowns to entire trains of commuters or better yet giveing instructions to leave the freeway or to pull into the next MCDonald's :) One step farther than hijacking rds radio :)
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
...the Blaster Master vehicle while reading this article? It even raises and lowers! Now we just need helmets that make our heads look bigger than our bodies.
All we need know are three dudes that can predict crime and we'll have Tom Cruise crashing through your skylight window for a crime you were thinking of committing!
...but where do I put my golf clubs?
On my commute through Detroit, this baby wouldn't make it over the first pot hole!
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
I would be worried about the possibility of someone deliberately interfering with my car. This could take war driving to a whole new level.
That I can now offshore my driving?
One person? Aren't cars now a days about biggness? There are times for utopian dreams, and time for selling things.
Looks a lot like the Corbin Sparrow, which was billed as an enclosed motorcycle rather than a single-seater car,
Cthulhu Barata Nikto
In the early 1980's I had a handmedown 1.6L diesel VW Rabbit with extended fuel tank (no ac, am radio, vinyl seats). It was not a chick car. It stuggled over 55mph.
It literally got 50-55mpg.
Am I missing something here? What is the point of hybrid vehicles getting moderate gasoline mpg? Diesel is a proven technology that can deliver extremely high efficiency and with new fuels pretty good environmental specs. Why on earth are expensive hybrids being forced on us?
Don't even get me started on the SUV market. It makes zero sense for any US SUV to ship with a gasoline engine. None of them can match the power, low end off-road torque and fuel efficiency of a diesel truck/SUV. Yet, Toyota is hawking a gas/electic Tundra Pickup?
vacuum cleaner! Is that british influence or what?
Is this the end of road head?
"But in the suburbs anyone can afford a decent-sized house."
Spoken like someone who's never experienced the bay area. Not that houses are cheap in S.F., but the surrounding area isn't any better.
--HC
So I'm jump'n up and down screaming show me the money.
The bay area is really entirely different from the rest of America for realty prices, and isn't a fair comparison. Frankly, I think anyone that chooses to live there. At least for Manhattan you can argue that there's culture, lifestyle, etc. in favor of living there. I've visited San Jose and Mountain View and I was most unimpressed. Nothing but boring tech companies and run-down apartments. Maybe there's something to San Francisco, but the parts of the Bay area I visited weren't anything special.
There's jobs elsewhere if you look.
Not just that? Imagine how much of the road you can see driving right behind a huge truct. Now imagine how much would you see driving behind a truck with two trucks on sides. Now, thats about as much as you going to see once this thingy reclines. Good luck driving until everybody has one....
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
"surrender control to another human-driven PM and relax as someone else drives them to work. And it reclines!"
i thought you were driving... no i thought you were driving... OH SHI!@#$%^
The city is cool and Berkely has its good points. The San Jose area is known for being dull. I go to school out here so I don't worry about it to much, but when I get out and go job hunting it probably won't be around here.
And SF really does have flavor and culture.
--HC
So I'm jump'n up and down screaming show me the money.
The reason Manhattan is expensive isn't because it's high density, it's because it's at the center of a huge city. You have cause and effect mixed up. If Manhattan apartment living is expensive, a house in Manhattan would be astronomical.
Urban sprawl would be a lot less serious if high density apartments were built out in the burbs rather than large houses with big yards. The same amount of people could live more cheaply and closer to their jobs in the city while taking up less land.
I believe that a better solution would be a more communal type of living. Urban areas could contain small apartments and lots of small parks. Less space would be needed for roads and parking (even if just as many people had cars), garages could be shared within an apartment. When you get right down to it, yards and garage workspaces are severly underutilized bu most suburbanites for the amount of space they consume. Sharing these resources among groups of families would cut down on wasted space and allow higher density living without significant drawbacks in quality of life.
The ultimate plays for Madden 2006
You have the first worry about what will be used to fuel these cars. Hybrid cars are nice, but a completely different fuel from gasoline would be better.
Ford as well as several other car companies have been looking into using hydrogen, biodiesel (similar to diesel fuel but made from plant or animal fat).
After you've got a very renewable resource as fuel, then you can worry about new car designs. I'm sorry for Toyota but glad personally that the United States would never start driving cars like that. Hybrid SUVs are the closest thing you'll get to a typical yet environmentally-sound American car. And let's face it, the United States population represents the majority of car buyers worldwide.
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
Ok, now this sounds like a utopian fantasy to me. Here's my problems with your vision:
If Manhattan apartment living is expensive, a house in Manhattan would be astronomical.
Of course; the cost of land there is astronomical, so more space = more $$$. I'm told that a 100-year-old brownstone will cost you about $2 million, and there's a 10 year waiting list to get one.
Urban sprawl would be a lot less serious if high density apartments were built out in the burbs rather than large houses with big yards. The same amount of people could live more cheaply and closer to their jobs in the city while taking up less land.
The problem with this is that people actually like to have more living space, and don't like apartments. I hate apartments. I lived in them through college, and for several years afterwards. They suck. The neighbors are assholes, they make too much noise, their dogs crap all over, the stupid kids vandalize your car, car theft is rampant, there's a shortage of parking (esp. for guests), people steal your parking space, neighbors set their apartment on fire and it burns down the whole unit, etc. And that's in the "upscale" apartment I used to live in. My girlfriend used live in a lower-class apartment complex with regular gunshots, people driving by with loud music late at night, etc. Since she was single, she got a Mossberg 590 shotgun and carried it from the apartment to her car and back, and any time she was outside. Someone tried breaking in to her apartment once, but took off when they heard her charging the weapon. Now why would anyone with money want to go back to that?
As for "living more cheaply", did it ever occur to you that people actually don't want to live cheaply? Good or bad, most people in this country tend to live at the limit of their available credit. Personally, I try to keep my debt as low as possible, so I got a small house and a 15-year loan to build equity as quickly as possible. Why would anyone with the means to buy a house want to rent an apartment, effectively throwing their money away? From this point, I'll just assume you meant condos (which you buy) instead of apartments (which you rent).
I believe that a better solution would be a more communal type of living. [snip] When you get right down to it, yards and garage workspaces are severly underutilized bu most suburbanites for the amount of space they consume. Sharing these resources among groups of families would cut down on wasted space and allow higher density living without significant drawbacks in quality of life.
Yeah, this sounds great, except that it wouldn't work. Would the tools be shared, or privately owned? Tools are expensive; if they're shared, someone's going to steal them and pawn them. Or they'll abuse them, not maintain them, etc. Or you won't be able to find them when you need them. People already have problems when they simply loan one tool to a friend--they don't get it back for years! If you keep your own tools, it'd be a PITA to haul them down the stairs from your 2nd-floor apartment to the common garage when you need to do something. And who keeps the garage clean? No one, of course, so your homeowners' association fee will be sky-high to account for maintenance stuff like this.
Basically, the problem with this communalism stuff is that you can't trust most people to not screw it up. The only way communes work is if they're small, and the members are very carefully selected. You could say families are like communes, for comparison: you have two parents, and two kids. These units tend to work decently, but there are only two adults, who have carefully (we hope) selected each other. And when kids get out of line, the adults can slap them around. In a larger commune, however, you can't very well slap around your neighbor's kid when he acts up, and you can't slap around your neighbor when he breaks your tools, or else you get slapped with a lawsuit.
Just like living in a relationship with another person (usually of the opposite sex) requires a lot more responsibility than just living by yourself and being single, living in a larger group of people requires even more responsibility and discipline, which most people simply don't have.
for funfunpark.
You can simulate everything pretty soon anyway with virtual reality.
-I am an elective eunuch.
>I'm told that a 100-year-old brownstone will cost you about $2 million,
>and there's a 10 year waiting list to get one.
There's no waiting list for $2 million brownstones. Brownstones are for sale just like house in the suburbs. Can you get one for $2M? Depends on where in Manhattan you are. Below 96th St? Probably not. Above? Maybe, if it's in bad shape.
To discourage people from driving single occupant buses to work and back.
is NOT a niche!
--
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
--
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
The only thing I really liked about the PM was the floating display with infrared hand position sensors. Give me that to play with and toss the rest.
The Volta, now that's another story! Way cool!
No, seriously, until companies like Chrysler recently started showing "concepts" with the strict purpose of gauging public reaction to a shift in styling, concept cars were generally meant to explore the envelope.
And that's just what the Mercedes LifeJet, the (godawful) Ford 24-7 thingies, the GM Autonomy, and the Toyota PM do. Everyone knows they won't be built, and that's fine. If every concept car were intended for production, concept cars would be terribly boring.
And uh, top heavy... It stands up at low speed for outward visibility and compactness (e.g. parking), and it lowers at higher speeds for aerodynamic efficiency and stability.
Didn't Steve Urkle have one of these?
Similar to the 80s flop - The C5
http://www.sinclairc5.com/
I won't argue that people like to have lots of space to themselves, this is obvious. The thing is it's a tradeoff. Lots of space means more money and/or farther from urban centers, which often implies a longer commute.
I live in an apartment right now because it is close to school and work, which save me time as well as money spent on my car. I could move farther away and live in either a bigger place or a cheaper place, but for me the tradeoff of convenience would not be worth it. This may change later in my life.
As far as living cheaply, maybe most people do live right up to their means, but who wouldn't gladly pay less for what they already have? This would mean more money for other things they may want. money saved on housing could be spent on nicer vacations. In my housing example I came up with a way to combine many of the positive charcteristics of urban apartment living (short commute, close to active city life) with thoseof suburban house living (mainly outdoor space). No it's not perfect, but I think it could be a lot better than what you describe. You've obviously had some bad apartment experiences, but plently of other people like apartments just fine. The garage thing was something I just came up with to go along with the shared parks replacing private lawns. Such a asystem could have private garages as well, many apartment complexes have private garages. For tool ownership, a simple set of lockers in the shared garage would do pretty nicely.
The ultimate plays for Madden 2006
Here are some bigger, better images:a .htm
:-)
http://www.autonews.com/files/2003tokyo/toyota/pm
http://grm.m.walla.co.il/archive/87536-12.jpg
I like to call it the Toyota Tachikoma
Considering that I frequently see people tailgating fuel tanker trucks, I don't think even a 6-inch spike would really have much of an affect on how people drive. I don't know about you, but I think that dying in a huge fireball sounds a lot worse than getting stabbed in the chest, and the inferno certainly isn't a deterrent.
For tool ownership, a simple set of lockers in the shared garage would do pretty nicely.
Lockers??! Exactly what kind of locker are you envisioning that can hold a full tool cabinet of hand tools, various handheld power tools, a table saw, a band saw, etc.? This sounds more like a U-Haul storage unit.
Yes, I'm sure many people would gladly pay less for what they have. However, many more, given this hypothetical sudden increase in buying power and the same salary, would move into a bigger house.
Obviously stolen from Mr. Garrison's design! The only thing missing is the anal stabilizer... I mean, I guess you could drive it without one, but.. what's the point, right, Mr. Hat?
If shit like this happens in U.S. it doesn't mean that it will happen when the bulk of population migrates to apartments. What you described is unheard of in apartments here, in Moscow. There are more than 10 millions who live in flats and more than half of them uses subway. Actually if I'm in a hurry I drive to closest to my home subway station, park there and use subway. It's much faster than going through the traffic. Parking space is a problem, but not a Problem. The same applies to all cities in Russia. And not only Russia, but many countries in Europe as well.
In other words, apartments != high crime area, apartments != non-comfort home and apartments != home for poor.
Even rich people here prefer expensive apartments in expensive buildings with moderate amount of apartments. Land around Moscow is cheap, yet almost nobody settles there.
So it's just a cultural difference, U.S. population perceives apartments as inferior type of home, that's all.
By the way, I cringe at the prospect of cleaning 1000 sq ft house... cleaning dust alone makes the task daunting.
Why you need a TABLE SAW and a BAND SAW in apartments?! You don't have to build fences around, fix your barn or build a chicken coop! Everything you need in apartments could be stored there, in a box.
The joysticks are just there for show. Everyone knows you control these things by manipulating big metal rods in your mouth and rectum.
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